Blog

Mother’s Day can be fraught with stress, and sometimes disappointment, if the day is just not what it’s cracked up to be. Not that we expect grand gestures and expensive presents, but is it too much to ask that the breakfast in bed doesn’t result in Mum having to deep scour the scrambled eggs off the “non-stick” pan? Our Communications Manager, Katherine Healy, looks at the myth of the perfect Mother's Day, and suggests an alternative instead. Read more…

Each day was more brilliant than the last as we moved our way through a paradise both rugged and fragile. The privilege of it was stunning. That these places, so remote to the crowded world, are so close to our doorstep is something not just to marvel at, but to be proud of, and a passionate about. Read more…

Our pals over at Outdoor Classroom Day just released 7 activities on Nature Passport - the free app designed by Nature Play WA and IslandWood to get kids and families playing, exploring, and learning outdoors. Play through the “My Outdoor Classroom” pack of activities when you get the free app, and transform your kids’ sedentary screen time into active, outdoors time! Read more…

Nature Play WA had a great weekend at the RAC Caravan and Camping Show on March 24-25. We spent two fantastic days helping families to build cubbies, create nature crafts and draw on our big chalkboards, undeterred by the on-and-off rain. As we often say – there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes! Read more…

As the parent of three children aged 16 to 5, I feel as though my entire adult life has been calling out “Be careful!” “Watch out!” or “Go easy!” (this last one was a favourite of my beloved grandmother). And I’m tired of it. To stop saying the obligatory, there are a couple of simple tips I’ve been trying, which need just a little practise to make a part of your repertoire. Read more…

Nature play spaces are everywhere. Schools have them, local governments are putting them in - there is even one at the new stadium. Every day there are more news stories and research on why kids do better when they get time to muck around outside. They even took time at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January to put out a statement on how real play is going to save world.
Here’s the thing though. Nature play is actually an anti-fad. It is just time and space for free play outdoors. The more nature there is in outdoors you have available the better, but at its heart nature play is just mucking around outside. Read more…

Last week, we kicked off the first Nature Play WA event for 2018, with Mini Nature Players – a morning of nature play just for the littlies. While our events are usually aimed at children from toddlers to 12 years (and their families) and held on a weekend, this one was designed as an introduction to nature play for children aged 6 months to four years, during a school day, to give them a chance to explore some special time in nature without the "help" of bigger siblings! Read more…

It sometimes feels like we’re fighting a losing battle for our children, to give them the childhood that we had. Where the only screen time we got in the day was maybe catching Round the Twist after school (if we biked home at breakneck speed), or watching Sale of the Century or A Country Practice in the evening, on the (only) TV, with the whole family.
But nostalgia does us no good. We can lament the advent of 24 hour entertainment, rage against ever-present social media, but they’re not going anywhere. All we can do is acknowledge that our children are growing up in a world very different than our own, but also very much the same. Read more…